We've rounded up another batch of Warcraft interviews covering everything from deleted scenes to Garona's backstory. The numbers are also in for Warcraft's opening weekend: $31.6 million across 20 countries. Check out our Warcraft Movie Hub for our past film coverage and a link to buy tickets.\r\rTradeChat Interviews\rTradeChat has posted her interviews from the Hollywood press junket a few weeks ago! In these interviews, she asked about some differences from the game, notably that Khadgar is not an old man at the end of the movie, and that Garona is half-human instead of half-draenei. We also get to see Rob Kazinsky reminisce about his time playing a world-ranked Death Knight in Wrath of the Lich King!\r\r\rVanion.eu Interviews\rGerman fansite Vanion also has released several cast and crew interviews. Highlights include Duncan Jones talking about the aggressive cut of the film and that there was definitely enough material for an extended edition. The biggest challenge for him directing the film was the duration of the project--he exclusive worked on Warcraft for over three years.\r\r\r\r\r\rWoWChakra Interview\rWoWChakra also interviewed Duncan Jones, covering motion-capture filming, making the audience care about both factions, and the potential for sequels with Thrall.\r\rDaily Beast Interview\rDuncan Jones was interviewed by The Daily Beast, talking about the movie's inevitable comparisons to Lord of the Rings and parallels to Europe's immigration crisis. A common theme with all of these interviews is that there is a ton of footage from the Director's Cut which didn't make it into the final version:\r\rJones tried to work in an insidery Easter Egg that would have tied Warcraft to his cinematic universe. \u201cIf you know Moon or Source Code, there\u2019s this very sweet, very talented guy named Chesney Hawks who wrote this really, really big hit in Britain called \u2018I Am The One And Only,\u2019\u201d he teased. \u201cI used it as an alarm clock in Moon, and a ring tone in Source Code\u2014and I actually got him to do a version as a bard in Warcraft.\u201d\r\rAlas! When Jones whittled down his 2 hour and 40 minute cut to the final runtime of just over two hours, \u201cwe weren\u2019t able to keep it in the cut. But somehow, maybe, I\u2019ll just sneak it into the Twitterverse\u2026 he did a Warcraft-medievally version of his single, and it\u2019s just brilliant. Unfortunately I was the only one who thought it was hilarious.\u201d\r\rDuncan Jones Birthday\rToday, May 30th, is director Duncan Jones' birthday! Wish him a Happy Birthday at @ManMadeMoon and stick around his Twitter feed for the movie tweets and fan interactions.\r\r\r\rInternational Opening Weekend\rVariety and Deadline have reported on the opening weekend success of Warcraft. The film grossed $31.6 million dollars across 20 countries.\r\rFrom Deadline:\rGamers and more rushed out to see the bigscreen adaptation of Blizzard Entertainment\u2019s wildly popular franchise, dropping a multi-player-fueled $31.6M in the process. In 73 IMAX plays, the Duncan Jones-helmed pic grossed $2.1M.\r\rRussia was the most keen to convene with the denizens of Azeroth and their Orc friends and foes, launching the movie with $10M and 63% of the market. It\u2019s the No. 2 opener there of 2016. Germany was also a No. 1 debut with $5.9M and a 42% share. France played to a No. 1 $4.5M; Sweden\u2019s No. 1 bow was $1.2M, making it Universal\u2019s fourth-biggest opening weekend ever behind only Fifty Shades Of Grey, Jurassic World and Furious 7.\r\rWarcraft\u2018s other No. 1s included Austria, Denmark (third-biggest opening of the year), Egypt, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Latvia, Lebanon, the Middle East, Norway, Pakistan, Slovenia, Switzerland, Thailand and the UAE. There are 45 more territories to open over the next two months, including Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK, among others, next frame.\r\rTwitter Reactions\rDirector Duncan Jones has been tweeting a lot of positive fan reactions to balance out the media's tendency to stereotype video game fans. No need to apologize for tweeting, we appreciate it!\r\r\rOne fan who enjoyed the movie was Game of Thrones actor Kristian Nairn! A self-described "Massive WoW+MMO, Gadgets and Tech Nerd," you can find Hodor in game via Nairn, Kristian Nairn / Henry Wall, and Riddoh.\r

Commentaires

Commentaire de borgusz

on 2016-05-30T11:34:43-05:00

NICE ONE

Commentaire de Palewind

on 2016-05-30T11:55:07-05:00

From the reviews on rottentomatoes and metacritic, it seems like they're split straight down the middle of "do you like the franchise?" and "do you have an axe to grind with video-games-turned-movies?"

Commentaire de Matrixwolf

on 2016-05-30T11:57:47-05:00

Duncan, you should have went with Rob Kazinsky's idea of putting a naked night elf dancing in lion's pride! Or at least gold "oro" beggers outside.....

Commentaire de Medapaw

on 2016-05-30T12:05:27-05:00

just got back from watching it, it was amazing! made even better by the other people watching, one shouted "for the horde!" at the start, and as the credits roll one guy stands up and says "off i go then" in a peasant voice, classic.

Commentaire de remotettl

on 2016-05-30T12:32:20-05:00

I really was waiting for something more, but assume, based on lore, this is great. thing that surprised me, really, was fact that orcs has 3x bigger hand than head.... it was really wtf moment for me.

Commentaire de ahunter8056

on 2016-05-30T13:26:08-05:00

Loved the film, can't wait for official release and sequels. It did feel as though too much packed into a short space of time, so I really can't wait for the inevitable Extended Edition.

Commentaire de latteine

on 2016-05-30T14:11:34-05:00

It\u2019s a shame the that by the time NA gets the movie it will be fubar by the media. One bit of advice here: don\u2019t listen to them, the movie is totally worth watching!

Commentaire de jafs1981

on 2016-05-30T14:15:57-05:00

Hodor and Bran was aslso there... don't forget that :)

Commentaire de Interest

on 2016-05-30T15:56:45-05:00

Director Duncan Jones has been tweeting a lot of positive fan reactions to balance out the media's tendency to stereotype video game fans.Well this wouldn't be the first time media has driven a narrative against one of its perceived rival mediums. That's been apparent in reporting incidents such as school shootings and then there's a certain event about a couple years ago if one were to talk about being highly critical of gaming culture in particular.

Considering how polarized feedback seems to be, I'll choose to be skeptical and reserve judgement until I watch the movie myself. It'll probably be the rare time I write up a review (for a movie especially). Unfortunately, based on previews and media releases intended to build hype, I might not be as positive in mine.

Edit: Also grats, Mr. Jones.

Commentaire de GarbageJuice

on 2016-05-30T16:59:54-05:00

Maybe, just maybe, the movie tried to fit A LOT of stuff into two hours, and it ended up as a $160 million rushed mess of CGI battles and generic fantasy tropes... and the critics have given it very consistent reviews reflecting that? I don't understand why it's so difficult to imagine that the movie's just mediocre.

Commentaire de Drahken

on 2016-05-30T17:19:21-05:00

Not that I wasn't already familiar with the story as it is in the games, but that third banion video has a spoiler in it.

Commentaire de darkelemental1

on 2016-05-30T18:20:30-05:00

Unfortunately I saw the movie, toughed it out to the end purely out of a waning love for the franchise. I came out disappointed and dont see how it will attract many new players. Its a movie for the fans and no one else. Its extremely generic story wise, having a Dances With Wolves plus orcs sort of vibe to it, offering nothing new or entertaining to people that dont already know the lore and implications of the the actions in the first movie. \r\rI see lots of people saying the media is just biased. it has to be understood that the people reviewing it are likely not Warcraft players, they dont read into the nuances like we would and it spends far too much time pandering to the players watching and not enough time to the newbies learning about Warcraft for the first time, the reviews are nearly consistent across the board and around the world saying basically the same thing. Its time to take off the tinfoil hats and just accept that its not a good mass appeal movie.

Commentaire de Interest

on 2016-05-30T19:25:17-05:00

Unfortunately I saw the movie, toughed it out to the end purely out of a waning love for the franchise. I came out disappointed and dont see how it will attract many new players. Its a movie for the fans and no one else.

If that's the case that's a weird direction to go since it's unlikely the movie will succeed based off the Warcraft fans alone. Thus, it would indeed be a flop.

Its extremely generic story wise, having a Dances With Wolves plus orcs sort of vibe to it, offering nothing new or entertaining to people that dont already know the lore and implications of the the actions in the first movie.

That unfortunately doesn't do a lot to describe whether it's appealing or not. if anything, a generic plot that has relatable elements (which Warcraft already does to the nth degree anyways, to be fair) would at least serve to hook in a more general audience. As for the lore and implications, that would be problematic more in a situation of the plot being too cryptic to decipher without knowing the context. If that is the case, then the movie basically failed at story writing 101. If not, then it serves more as an inside reference that has a neutral appeal on general audiences and a positive one on people who happen to understand it, making it a (weak) net positive. The big issue I see here is it may be difficult, especially for people who know the lore in particular, to determine the difference of whether lore deficiency is problematic or not during the presentation.

I see lots of people saying the media is just biased. it has to be understood that the people reviewing it are likely not Warcraft players,

Which in itself is understandable. The point of Warcraft would be to appeal to a general audience, but...

they dont read into the nuances like we would

On this I partially disagree. I'm pretty certain not every review was like the Guardian's, but it's so heavily cited as the hallmark of laughable reviewing because it's a well-known (if perhaps controversial) journalistic outlet. It especially doesn't help that an entire paragraph is devoted to this:

The prospect of a predominantly white, European realm being invaded by foreign, primitive, darker skinned hordes (they are actually called the Horde) might set alarm bells ringing in our current climate of immigration anxiety. Is this a veiled Ukip broadcast? Or a pro-Trump one? Nobody suggests the orcs are there to steal Azeroth\u2019s jobs or exploit its benefits system, thankfully, though they are intent on overrunning their adoptive country and sucking the souls out of all its living creatures. (Source)

I dunno about you, but even at the international level, Trump is known and the ones speak out against him do so very loudly indeed to the point of creating a massive narrative of negativity to the point that even mentioning him or his policies implies a strong degree of negativity. Also, comparing the movie's storyline to the refugee crisis, another well-known international issue, in a way that borders on racial stereotyping doesn't help the credibility of the otherwise potentially credible review either. This in itself is the reviewer deciphering the lore a rather politically charged way (that is frankly rather disingenuous) and while following paragraphs somewhat assuage the agenda-driven remarks, it doesn't help that the reviewer has now planted that idea into the head of readers before they're even allowed to determine the context of that aspect of the plot themselves.

I won't be so fallacious as to paint every outlet with the same broad stroke of the brush though, since...

and it spends far too much time pandering to the players watching and not enough time to the newbies learning about Warcraft for the first time, the reviews are nearly consistent across the board and around the world saying basically the same thing. Its time to take off the tinfoil hats and just accept that its not a good mass appeal movie.

I am aware of this issue yet even by the end of your remarks (and reading a few reviews) I'm wondering how specifically Warcraft failed at this so spectacularly. I can think of plenty of ways that it can that make logical sense (and I have seen quite a few movies commit such failures), but on the other hand the issue of mass appeal can be a contrivance in itself due to willful ignorance or the like (or to put it another way, expecting the movie to strongly appeal to the lowest common denominator)... and this is coming from someone who thinks that WoW could stand to be more new player-friendly in quite a few ways - mechanics in particular.

...This is why I want to reserve judgement until after I watch the movie myself. I don't really care for the highly positive (and likely strongly biased) fan reviews either.

Edit: As a bit of an afterthought though, my biased mind tells me that there's other points in Warcraft lore that may have served as a better hook for general audiences, such as parts of the Warcraft 3 campaign.

Commentaire de KayArIEs

on 2016-05-30T21:51:24-05:00

Only 32 million compared to the 80 million Apocalypse made... That should tell you guys something.

Commentaire de Thermaul

on 2016-05-30T22:21:03-05:00

Only 32 million compared to the 80 million Apocalypse made... That should tell you guys something.\r\rGood job keep comparing apples to oranges.\rRise of comic book superhero movies over the last decade.\rWarcraft just started in a stale genre that hasn't had traction for half a decade. \r\rWar facts doing a staggered 2 month release. It made 31.6 million in 20 territories in 5 days. There are still over 40 more markets to open up in, also the biggest markets are still within those 40 markets.

Commentaire de jafs1981

on 2016-05-30T23:11:38-05:00

Only 32 million compared to the 80 million Apocalypse made... That should tell you guys something.\r\rApocalypse made 65Million just in the US on opening weekend... so doing some math 80 - 65 = 15 \rSo, Apocalypse made just 15 Million outside the US in it's opening weekend? And Warcraft is still to open in many markets... THAT SHOULD TELL YOU SOMETHING...

Commentaire de bassfu

on 2016-05-31T00:29:34-05:00

Maybe, just maybe, the movie tried to fit A LOT of stuff into two hours, and it ended up as a $160 million rushed mess of CGI battles and generic fantasy tropes... and the critics have given it very consistent reviews reflecting that? I don't understand why it's so difficult to imagine that the movie's just mediocre.\r \rDon't you know that Disney is paying off all these critics to say $%^& about Warcraft? You must be a Disney shill too if you're doubting the greatness of the greatest fantasy franchise ever, no exceptions.

Commentaire de darkelemental1

on 2016-05-31T01:43:22-05:00

\r\rand it spends far too much time pandering to the players watching and not enough time to the newbies learning about Warcraft for the first time, the reviews are nearly consistent across the board and around the world saying basically the same thing. Its time to take off the tinfoil hats and just accept that its not a good mass appeal movie.\r\rI am aware of this issue yet even by the end of your remarks (and reading a few reviews) I'm wondering how specifically Warcraft failed at this so spectacularly. I can think of plenty of ways that it can that make logical sense (and I have seen quite a few movies commit such failures), but on the other hand the issue of mass appeal can be a contrivance in itself due to willful ignorance or the like (or to put it another way, expecting the movie to strongly appeal to the lowest common denominator)... and this is coming from someone who thinks that WoW could stand to be more new player-friendly in quite a few ways - mechanics in particular.\r\r...This is why I want to reserve judgement until after I watch the movie myself. I don't really care for the highly positive (and likely strongly biased) fan reviews either.\r\r\r\rBasically it provided nothing that would make Warcraft feel unique among similar movies. The action wasnt bland but it wasnt amazing either, the story wasnt terrible but didnt really grab at the attention, the characters werent annoying but they werent memorable. basically it fails to be a strong foundation for a new world and a new story to anyone besides people who are already familiar with it. It felt like it relied heavily on the winks and nudges to fans to fill in the gaps of character and story it didnt have time to cram in. On a side note, the overall movie was very high contrast when I saw it, the colors didnt feel rich and everything looked washed out which also didnt help as it made many of the effects stand out as CGI rather than blend in as they were hopefully meant to. Just seemed like a bad editing decision.

Commentaire de chaserzdream

on 2016-05-31T04:09:17-05:00

\r\rand it spends far too much time pandering to the players watching and not enough time to the newbies learning about Warcraft for the first time, the reviews are nearly consistent across the board and around the world saying basically the same thing. Its time to take off the tinfoil hats and just accept that its not a good mass appeal movie.\r\rI am aware of this issue yet even by the end of your remarks (and reading a few reviews) I'm wondering how specifically Warcraft failed at this so spectacularly. I can think of plenty of ways that it can that make logical sense (and I have seen quite a few movies commit such failures), but on the other hand the issue of mass appeal can be a contrivance in itself due to willful ignorance or the like (or to put it another way, expecting the movie to strongly appeal to the lowest common denominator)... and this is coming from someone who thinks that WoW could stand to be more new player-friendly in quite a few ways - mechanics in particular.\r\r...This is why I want to reserve judgement until after I watch the movie myself. I don't really care for the highly positive (and likely strongly biased) fan reviews either.\r\r\r\rBasically it provided nothing that would make Warcraft feel unique among similar movies. The action wasnt bland but it wasnt amazing either, the story wasnt terrible but didnt really grab at the attention, the characters werent annoying but they werent memorable. basically it fails to be a strong foundation for a new world and a new story to anyone besides people who are already familiar with it. It felt like it relied heavily on the winks and nudges to fans to fill in the gaps of character and story it didnt have time to cram in. On a side note, the overall movie was very high contrast when I saw it, the colors didnt feel rich and everything looked washed out which also didnt help as it made many of the effects stand out as CGI rather than blend in as they were hopefully meant to. Just seemed like a bad editing decision.\r\rI'm REALLY confused where this is coming from. I havent seen it but literally everyone from the movie has said this was made for non fan audiences with there simply being easter eggs for the fans.\r\rPerhaps the movie was just different from what you like and so for you the easter eggs were the only good things about it.\r\rmaybe be more specific with your critique. I mean i know for a fact action movies with armies and fire and big monsters utilizing a humanitarian story evoking stories like Pocohantus is something people really like.\r\rI'm serious your entire paragraph makes it sound like a bunch of platitudes of someone who didnt hate the movie but didnt like it cus its no their type of movie. To put it to review, your review.... you might as well just typed "*shrug*"

Commentaire de chaserzdream

on 2016-05-31T04:18:33-05:00

sadly not everyone knows that critics are pointless in our society.\r\rIt made since long ago when people only had newspapers, pamphlets and magazines to get their info, which the companies would pull from known people who knew what they were talking about.\r\rThere is no point now when you can just find people on the internet that have similar tastes and ask if they liked it.\r\rhonestly they might deserve to still exist if people could pull their opinions out of their own perspective.\rThere are plenty of movies and shows in which I personally hated it but i could see why OTHER people like it.\r\rThe plot was about menial things, or the characters were unrealistic or things were repetative but people liked the jokes and the characters and the unrealistiic versions of real life situations so it not a bad show\/movie. its just not for me.\r\rLike you dont go into a Micheal Bay movie expecting a slow realistic drama focused on powerful dialogue and character interactions.